Fourth of July

Today is the day.  It's been a couple of months in the making.  No more procrastinating.  It simply has to be done.  I will update my "current city status" and "employment status" on Facebook. 

Only occassionally will I make comments like, "Remember where we were this time last year?"  or "Five years ago today..."  But, it's hard not to do that around this time of year.  I have always loved July 4.  It's the epitome of summertime.  Watermelon, fresh cut grass, smell of chlorine, sunburns, bleached-out hair and fireworks.  What's not to love?  Starting our last year of college, we spent the next 5 Fourths with our best friend Ryan.  Either floating down the Tahlequah River, boating or hanging out by a pool, it seemed we were always enjoying the holiday together.  Those were great times that I will always cherish.

But last year was certainly one to mention, because on July 2, the hubby, the two terriers and I were on a plane bound for Almaty, Kazakhstan.  We embarked on the craziest adventure of our lives and better yet, we lived to tell about it!  We spent Independence Day 2010 eating shashlick, drinking imported beers at a Kazak pub, feeling very much out of our element.   Over the past year, I have worn these random experiences as a badge of honor.  Maybe I thought it showed that I was tough enough to endure or open-minded enough to take it all in. I was proud of us for doing something so bold and a little unorthodox.

A year later, we're gratefully back in the USA, but I have been reluctant to change my Facebook statuses.  I ponder why....living internationally meant I couldn't officially have a job, because I didn't have a work permit.  It was perfectly acceptable to be an ex-pat wife.  But now, it seems a little lazy and spoiled of me to not have children and not work.  "Stay-at-home dog mom" sounds ridiculous.  And although I love Oklahoma and I'll always be an Okie at heart, I'd love to have my "current city" listed as some exotic locale.  It's an odd internal struggle. 

My remedy?  Buy an American flag and fly it patriotically.  We will also spend quality time with friends and family eating good ol' fashion American hamburgers and hotdogs.  And I will update my Facebook profile.